To leave the subject of canned sermons on a light note, I’m going to share a story that I heard Sen. Russell Long tell some years ago.

There was once an earnest young Baptist preacher who was about to give his first sermon. For six days he labored long and diligently over the manuscript, giving it all piety and scholarship he had in him.

And on the seventh day … he forgot it!

It was only when he mounted the pulpit on Sunday morning and reached into his coat pocket that he realized he had left the sermon behind on his kitchen table. Panic seized him. Under the stress of the moment, he found himself unable to recall a single word of the sermon that had cost him so much effort.

With a sinking feeling, he decided that there was nothing to do but ‘fess up. Looking out at the upturned, expectant faces of his congregation he declared, “Brothers and sisters, I apologize to you from the bottom of my heart. I did have a sermon prepared for today, but I left it behind, and I can’t for the life of me remember what was in it. So this morning, I’ll just have to speak as the Lord directs me.”

The young minister paused, wiped his forehead, raised his right hand, and in a voice throbbing with sincerity he added: “But I promise you –- I’ll do better next week.”